At the risk of boring people with my articles on Peace Dollar VAMs in general and extra hair specifically, I am writing today on another one. The 1923 VAM 1AA is commonly referred to as an Extra Hair Elite 30 Peace Dollar VAM. I can’t help myself. This is an amazing example of one and I would like to share it with you.

�� This example I have happens to be a beautifully struck coin. It has a great deal of cartwheel luster with the beginning of toning along the edge. It has been graded and attributed by ANACS as an MS 63.

�� This VAM was discovered by Dr. David Close in 2004. It consists of diagonal die break or breaks in Miss Liberty’s hair in the back and next to the horizontal hair strands. Sort of in the pony tail area if I may say that. These die breaks are present in raised areas on the coin. Like most Elite 30 coins, these breaks are able to be seen with the naked eye. This fact is why I enjoy collecting Elite 30 and Top 50 Peace Dollars.

�� A die crack will produce a thin line of raised metal in a coin. This, in itself, is not recognized as a VAM. If it develops into a die break, that is a different story. A die break is defined as a die that chunks of metal have fallen out or when the die splits. A die break must be visible with the naked eye. This makes the Elite 30 and Top 50 Peace Dollars so attractive to me.

�� The 1923 VAM 1AA has the following hub pairing: II 1--B2a.

This means that the obverse hub used was a type II. This hub was used on some 1922 P,D,S as well as some 1922 proofs and all 1923 to 1928 coins. This was the “basic” design type. The 1 is the order the mint used to produce coins this year. The reverse hub, B2a, means it also is the “basic” design type. It features three peaks in the mountain range, three rays below “ONE”, and six rays below the Eagle’s tail feathers. The Olive branch is connected to the Eagles foot.�

�� This coin also is rated as an I-3 R-6. The meaning of this code is that the coin has an overall interest level of 3 or a significant die variety with general interest to VAM collectors. The R-6 means that this VAM has a distinction of being Very Rare. This means there are only several hundred examples “in the wild”.� The “a” is again the order the mint was issued to mint the coins for this year, 1923. The Interest and Rarity numbers can change as more coins are found.

�� I hope the reader has a small look into the world of a VAM collector. One can keep it simple or dive into the minute elements of a given Peace Dollar. Thank you.

�

SOURCES:

VAMWorld 2.0

ANACS

A Guide Book of Peace Dollars 3rd Edition----Roger W. Burdette

Encyclopedia of Morgan & Peace Dollars 4th Edition---Leroy C. Van Allen & George Mallis